Thanks for the info everyone.  Really appreciated!

I never have purchased any console - strictly a PC gamer, so I never had an x-box controller.

Some PC games are best suited to a console style controller.  I have two - a logitech, and the one I use most because it is most compatible - an interact propad.

I have a couple games that just don't work, or at least don't work well with my gamepads, so I'm wondering if anyone has an x-box controller that will work with a PC.  There are probably quite a few wired controllers sitting around since the wireless controllers are now available.

If you are willing to part with a well functioning controller, let me know. I'd appreciate it.

Thanks!

 Got it and it activated.  Will download it soon.

Dibs on Borderlands!

I'd like the Batman code.  Sounds like a good game

Got it! Thanks!      

MOMO arrived in great condition.  Having a blast running some of the great cars and tracks of the world!

THANKS!   

Got Zack and Wiki today.  Great condition, fast service.  Thanks!

Dibs on Zack and Wiki.

Will send PM.

Thanks for your response!

Yes, I did get into safe mode - it took forever - long story.  But in there I was able to run Malwarebytes three times.  It removed two threats and the computer runs better, but not back to normal yet.

At this point I have to suspend everything for a while while I am out of town.  When I get back, I'll work on backing up everything, using Linux if needed.  Then I'll try to finish cleaning up this apparent infection.  I've never had to use Windows repair. What has been your experience with it?  Is it usually effective?

This has been a big nuisance, but it is the first virus I've had in 20 years of computing.  If it is 20 years to the next one, I'm OK with that.

Saga to resume when I get back.

PS - When I was having trouble starting Libronix, I did crtl-alt-del and opened task manager.  MSMPENG.EXE was not using any computer cycles and neither was anything else except System Idle Process at 99 percent.

I hesitate to look in task manager now, because it locks up on that, too.

I have XP Home running and I'm able to access the internet through Firefox (Haven't tried another browser)

I noticed that I was not able to open one of my programs last week - Libronix.  I got the splash screen, then no activity.

At that point, I realized that I let windows update at about the time that this all started.

While I was talking with tech support for the program, I realized that I could not open Windows Explorer.  The window for explorer would open, but It had a flashlight icon searching for my drives and my documents.  It could not find any drives or documents for 30 minutes, and when I tried to close Explorer, I got an hourglass icon and nothing was responsive.  I did a hard shutdown.

Things started normally, and I tried to run windows Restore, a hard drive monitor (speedfan), Add/Remove hardware, and Microsoft Defender. Each time, the machine locked up as described above, and each time I had to do a hard shutdown.

I plugged in my backup HDD, but I have to use Windows Explorer to start it, and Explorer just ran the flashlight icon.

Today, I hit F2 and ran setup at startup.  There is a hard drive diagnostics tool there, and it reports the hard drive is OK.

Today I tried to install Norton Ghost, but it hung at the dialog box that says "preparing to install" for 30 min.  When I clicked cancel it became unresponsive, so I did another hard shutdown.

I AM able to run WinPatrol Plus, and the only recent change listed is MSMPENG.EXE on July 7. If I remember correctly, this file was a resource hog and gave me trouble before and I thought I got rid of it. The Windows update probably reinstalled it.  I know it turned real-time monitoring on, and I shut it off yesterday.

I plan to keep the computer on and connected to the internet until I know more about what is going on, in hopes that I can salvage files that are not backed up.

Anyone have any ideas about this situation?  Any help would be greatly appreciated!

From a couple comments I just read, Windosill sounds like it might be fun.  I'd like to give this one a try.
Thanks

but I'm holding off on SS3:BFE until at least the Steam summer sale.

When is the Steam summer sale - any idea?  I thought there might be a Spring sale, but I guess not.

Don't despair.

I have them already, otherwise I'd take them right away.  Perhaps others already have them, too?

Great games for anyone who hasn't tried them.  Thanks for your very generous offer!

PM incoming

Thanks, Caine.

I don't want to take any chances with my account, either.  That's why I was considering the second account.

I looked for the answer for about 30 min and couldn't find anything.

I've searched for this on Steam Support site and haven't found an answer.

I would like to create a second personal account.  I know I would have to use a different e-mail address.

Anyone here have experience with doing this?

Moderator - if this is the wrong forum, please relocate to the correct one.

Definitely in for Terraria and tempted by Portal 2 (even though I'm the only gamer on the planet who wasn't crazy about the first one)

I right there with you on Portal, just could not get into it

Me too.  I bought it last year cause everyone said it was so awesome and I played it a couple of hours and uninstalled it, lol.

I almost made the same mistake.  I played the first 10 or so levels when there was a Free Demo for either ATI or NVidia users - I forget which.  I didn't see what all the excitement was about.  It gets to be much better after you go further into it.  The first levels (20 or so) are almost a tutorial.

I'd be interested in Dirt 2. I have the original Dirt and the demo of Dirt 2. Like both of them.  PM is in your inbox.

if you pre-purchase on Steam (for $45) you get a free copy of Dirt 2 for yourself or to gift.  Speaking of, anybody seriously interested in a copy of Dirt 2? 

I'd be interested in Dirt 2. I have the original Dirt and the demo of Dirt 2. Like both of them.  PM on the way to you soon.

In for Medal of Honor - Thanks for the tip!

CeeKay, you have posted a lot of deals for us here. It must take a lot of time and I just want to say that your work is appreciated. Thanks a lot!   

Does Dawn of Discovery work in Win 7?  The OS requirements state "Windows Vista (only)" and do not mention Win 7.

works great on my machine, win 7 x64.

Same here.

Earicci, I can't recommend STALKER highly enough if you have even a passing interest in shooters.  It's one of the most atmospheric games I've ever played.  Absolutely gripping.

Thanks Huw, with two more sale days and my budget maxing I had to make a decision between STALKER and Far Cry 2. I just bought Crysis - STALKER has to be worth a fin!

Earicci - good move on Stalker and Crysis, but at $4.99 you have to get Far Cry 2.  Walk the neighbor's dog, Shovel some snow, whatever.  Don't miss out on Far Cry 2.

PC version is $15.96.  List price is now $19.99.

I'm assuming you are writing about single player mods.

research and development

Research and Development is pretty damn good, probably because it was done by an actual professional developer.

MINERVA: Metastasis is also pretty fun and the guy who did that got a job at Valve.

Coastline to Atmosphere is pretty popular but I've never completed it.

Dear Esther is pretty trippy but isn't a traditional mod as there is no combat.  It really hit me emotionally, though, and isn't very long at all.

I agree with all of the above but I can't say anything about Dear Esther because I haven't played it.

I'd like to add recommendations for Offshore, Mission Improbable, The Citizen, and Strider Mountain.

Here's a page you might want to look at.

http://www.planetphillip.com/browse/complete-modwall/

There are also lots of mods on that page that are just maps that can be played in a short time.  I would recommend Powerstation 17 and Redox.

Have Fun!

Qwirks was a Tetris type game with questions in the margins of the manual.

You could play for days and then a question would pop up on the screen and the only way to move on was to look up the answer.

Yes, it is a hard game, but the game is manageable when you are stealthy after first contact. Do everything you can to have cover nearby before initiating action. Try "gun and disappear".

I still died a lot, but I don't like the game to be too easy.

Thanks for the info on the power draw.  I had researched the 9600Gt and knew it was not hard on watts, but I never had anything like this happen before.  Then I came across an article about the card and for the first time, saw the min recommended specs say 400W.

I'll have to think about another machine.  Right now, I don't know of one.  Isn't that sad! Nobody else I personally know is a pc gamer with a SATA box as good as my mediocre/low powered system.

Maybe I'll think of someone. or maybe I will have to check out EVGAs warranty possibilities.

Thanks for the help!  

EDIT - PS - What happened to the ATI 4850 card? - END EDIT

I just installed an EVGA 9600 GT with the latest Nvidia drivers 196.21 on my Dell dimension 9200 built in August of 2007.

Previous card was an ATI x1950 pro, which ran fine, but had framerates that were a little low in some games.

With the new card, everything works fine for normal word processing, internet, casual games, etc. Then I tried HL2: Lost Coast system test.  with default settings (low), I got 145 fps, so I changed settings to a little higher than what I normally used with the ati card, and the game froze.  I tried Call of Duty 4 with my previous settings, and it has frozen multiple times requiring a hard boot to get out of it.  On restart, I got a BSOD with the message nv4_disp was responsible for putting it into an infinite loop.  Restarted, and the computer was usable.  dxdiag states that nv4_disp.dll is my main driver.

After that, I went back to 182.50 drivers, but it is no better.

Two questions for our experts please.

1. Is it likely that the PSU - 375W original from Dell is the problem or is this a driver problem?

2. If not a driver problem, Is it possible to replace the PSU with one available at Best Buy - Rocketfish 550/500W?  In the past, there were problems with the connections or the voltages being wrong if a standard PSU went into a Dell.  I think that is no longer the case, but just checking.

I'll put the PSU in if it will help, but I could always go back to my ATI card and leave well enough alone.

Intel Core 2 Quad CPU @ 2.4 Ghz; 2 Gig RAM; 320 Gb HDD; XP Home sp 2

Here's a link with some data on laptop graphics.  It will give you an idea of what to expect from a card.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2521-8.html?xtmc=hierarchy_chart&xtcr=1

Good luck!

Mirage - sending a PM.

You should have a PM now.

Last summer, I started to play through the MoH games again.

Soon, I'll come to the one gap in the collection - Medal of Honor: Airborne

I know there were problems with this one on some computers, but I'm having a good time with the older ones and I'd like to complete the series, so I'd like to try it.

I could get it on Steam, but thought I'd ask here first.

Anyone have this sitting on the shelf; getting in the way; gathering dust?

PM on the way.

Dibs on Command and Conquer 3 -

Which one is it? - Tiberium Wars or Red Alert 3

I'll take Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure.

PM on the way

Thanks, everyone.

I guess he'll stick with Defense Grid: the Awakening and Plants vs. Zombies for now. 

I hope that Hidden Path works up another version of DG.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This is for a person who likes Defense Grid a lot and enjoys plants vs zombies.

Looking for something else, but he does not get excited about flash tower defense for some reason.

Something easy to pick up and play (no complex controls)

Anything come to mind?

Thanks!

Looks like it was the memory. I called him and he followed instructions over the phone.

He left one stick in the Bank 0 and it booted. He's going to try the other stick in bank 0, and if that works, he'll try both sticks in case there was a bad connection on either stick.

I'm going to look for his memory and we'll probably replace both sticks.  It is 512 DDR 400 MHz cl-3.

He has XP and we'll probably get 2 - 1Gig sticks.  Any recommendations?

I'd start with the memory, make sure it's seated firmly. If it's not onboard video do the same for the vid card.  After that start running memory diagnostics etc.

I'll check to see if they are seated properly. It does have a video card.

Here's a list of HP beep codes.
The only one I could see that's close to what you're describing doesn't sound good.
Knowing what kind of BIOS might be helpful, though I'm going to go ahead and guess it's an Award BIOS, because that's the only type that has a 'continuous beeping' option.

Thanks for finding that HP link.  I had looked at it before and didn't notice the listing you found.  CPU overheating sounds bad - but is it possible if the machine has been sitting there cold?

I'd suggest putting in one stick of memory in bank 0 (first bank) and powering it on.
Based on success/fail, try the other memory stick.

Sounds like memory problems.

If it boots, run Memtest86+ on it. You can either download a bootable CD, or just boot with a Kubuntu install DVD (which has it on it). Both are free; the Kubuntu will let you run the OS from CD so you can disconnect the HDD if you wanted to.

Thanks for the tip on the memory in bank 0.  I didn't know if memory had to be paired.

It would be great if the problem was memory - he could just replace it.

Also, glad to know about Kubuntu having memtest and the ability to run without the HDD.

Thanks everyone.  When he gets here, I'll check in here again and report on our progress.